Japan Digest: Cabinet Approval Rating Slumps, Ginza Heist Convictions

Here is a roundup of news from Japanese newspapers, news wires and websites on Thursday, October 7, 2010. The Wall Street Journal has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Approval Rating for Kan’s Cabinet Slides to 47.6% in Latest Poll: The support rating for Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s Cabinet skidded to 47.6 per cent in the latest Kyodo News poll released Wednesday, reflecting dissatisfaction with its handling of a territorial row with China and a political funds scandal involving ruling party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa. The approval rating for the Cabinet fell 16.8 percentage points from 64.4 per cent in the previous poll, conducted shortly after Kan reshuffled the cabinet on Sept. 17, while its disapproval rating rose to 36.6 per cent from the previous 21.2 per cent. (Source: Kyodo)

Japan’s Kawamura to Head Up International Legal Body: A Kyoto-born lawyer has been chosen as the first Japanese citizen to lead the International Bar Association. Akira Kawamura, 69, takes over Thursday as president of the London-based IBA, which has a membership of 40,000 individual lawyers as well as bar associations and law societies in more than 130 countries. (Source: Asahi)

Hong Kong Court Jails Three for $2 Million Ginza Jewelry Heist: A Hong Kong court Wednesday sentenced three men to prison for their roles in a heist in which more than $2 million worth of watches were stolen from a store in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district in January. Chan Kong-yiu, 53, Choi So-man, 50, and Chow Kwong-tung, 54, were each sentenced to 34 months in prison by the District Court for “conspiring to steal” 163 brand-name watches from the Tenshodo store in Ginza. The stolen items were seized from the suspects’ homes and three bank safety deposit boxes in Hong Kong after they were shipped from Japan by mail. (Source: Mainichi)

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